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OFC Men's Champions League

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OFC Men's Champions League

The OFC Men's Champions League is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been organised since 2007 under its current format.

The first four Club Championship titles were won by Australian clubs. Since 2006, when Australia left the OFC, 16 OFC titles have been won by clubs from New Zealand, one by a Papua New Guinean club and one by a New Caledonian club.

Trophies for OFC tournament winners are made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte.

The winning club used to qualify for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, entering at the African–Asian–Pacific Cup play-off stage. Additionally, the best-ranked champion in a 4-year period, Auckland City FC, qualified for the 2025 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup. Qualifications for those tournaments are now handled by the OFC Professional League.

The Oceania Club Championship was played in one or two venues, in one host country. There were two or three groups with single round-robin format, semi-finals and final. The tournament usually lasted about ten days, with matches being played every two days.

At first, this competition was played as a single play-off match between champions of New Zealand and Australia. That competition was held in 1987 and Adelaide City won the inaugural season. Then a twelve year pause came, until the OFC organised the next, all-Oceania Cup. In January 1999, the Oceania Club Championship was held in the Fijian cities of Nadi and Lautoka. Nine teams took part, with Australian side South Melbourne winning the trophy. They also qualified for the following year's FIFA Club World Cup.

The next competition was held two years later, with an Australian team again winning the title. Wollongong Wolves won it, beating Vanuatu representative Tafea in the final. Two more editions were held under this name and format, with Sydney and Auckland City winning titles. Sydney could not defend its title in 2006 as Australia left the OFC that year to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The main reasons were to face stronger competition, improve player development, and have a more reliable path to World Cup qualification, as Australia often dominated OFC teams but then struggled in intercontinental play-offs to qualify for the World Cup.

For 2007 OFC decided to change the competition format and name, to being known as the OFC Champions League until 2024.

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